Rich Cahill

"Hounds of Hell" Print For Sale!

2011-09-08T12:04:00.005-04:00

I did this neat painting last year called "Hounds of Hell". To me it represents the conditioning of war on society and the effects on the human mind. It's printed on Archival water color paper at the size of 18"x18" limited edition of 50, signed and numbered. I will send one to you for $60 dollars plus shipping. E-mail me at changfreely@gmail.com if you are interested.
Rich Cahill

Jem Jr. Vintage Camera

2011-08-05T12:14:00.006-04:00

I picked up this cool camera from Modern Love in town. I didn't even know if it would work or not. It takes the most amazing landscape photos. Its so easy to use. No focusing, just line up your scene and push the lever down and its made in New Jersey!
I will take this with me everywhere and share these images with you.

Summer Tattoo Round Up

2011-07-28T09:58:00.004-04:00

Its been a very busy and productive summer so far. I've started 2 killer dragon back piece's and tattooed some other very cool stuff. Im super stoked on a back piece on my buddy Nick. It started as a cover up and eventually ended up covering his whole back. I love Japanese dragons they are fun to tattoo and look sick! The other is on Rich . I've done both Rich's sleeves and I am so honored to do his Dragon Back piece. Rich might be my fist body suit. Im am booked for a few months now. And still taking requests for work in the future so if you have something in mind give me an email.

2011 Allentown Tattoo Show

2011-05-02T12:53:00.003-04:00

On Friday it started out great. I tattooed Samantha Goodman's ribs on her way to the Sturgis roadshow. Then on to my ole buddy Jared Urban who I've been tattooing for 15 years now. It was good to see the same face's as last year and some new ones as well. I always have a good time at the Skinvitational. On Saturday I didn't make any appointments and just took walk bys. I did well and had fun drawing tattoos up on the spot. I Started out by tattooing a really cool biker character riding into the sunset on T. Wood. One of my favorites was the blackbird I did on Ann Marie Lance. I was so busy that afternoon I didn't see the monsoon that was going on outside. It still didn't deter the Gasket Goons from bringing the Hot Rods up for the car show. Saturday night was a blast hanging with the crew from Immortal Ink, Back to Back, and the Gasket Goons.
Sunday I finished up the convention with a mermaid and a seahorse. I look forward to next years convention!

Two d-bags go to Guatemala

2011-04-11T15:10:00.009-04:00

Just recently returned from a central American adventure with Josh -- We spent 4 days visiting our friend Dave Spagna who has a tattoo shop called Speeds in Antigua, a small tourist town surrounded by volcanoes in central Guatemala. What an amazing trip! We got the incredible chance to immerse ourselves in the guatemalan culture. Josh and I both guested at Dave's shop, while there we were lucky enough to hang the whole time with Luis Bedregal, Art Escobar, and Carlob Charly Wolfos, amazing tattoo artists who happen to know every bar in Antigua- cool shop!
It was funny to discover that when we told people we were from Jersey they immediately assumed we were a couple d-bags from "Jersey Shore" which just so happened to be on everyones television sets at the time...what is this jersey shore shit?
Had a great time-did some cool tattoos on rad people-Susana, Nick, Heidi, Silvis and tattooed a cool panther on Dave Spagnas hand. Josh and I are hoping to go back in November and continue adventures in Antigua- hope you enjoy pictures from my vintage Jem camera- cheers!

It's that time of year again!

2011-03-07T17:24:00.003-05:00

From the 15th-17th of April Lehigh Valley Tattoo Convention will be holding their annual Skindustry Expo. Always a great time- come on down and experience some of the areas best music, art and especially tattoos! http://www.skindustryexpo.com/ You can find us at the Holiday Inn in Allentown Pa. I'm going to be putting in a lot of hours of work that weekend...most of my spots are open as of now so send me an e-mail if your interested: changfreely@gmail.com, hope to see you there my friends!

Just around the corner..

2011-02-28T12:57:00.011-05:00

Hello everyone! Those piles of snow are finally melting and spring fever has only begun to sprung. (For the locals) we all know how it goes: As the days get longer, Frenchtown gets busier and busier. The shops been going great, not much time to sit around. The little hints of sunlight creeping through the windows make the days that much smoother. I mentioned in my last post that I had a lot of free space this winter- but with the changing of the seasons most of those spots have filled. I do, however have some free space around the middle of April on..get in touch with me if your interested!

Towards the end of March (24th-28th) I'll be closing up shop and heading down to Guatemala to visit a good friend, Dave Spagna. I can't wait to experience the ins and outs of his central American shop as well as creating some work of my own. The anticipation is overwhelming. I'm so excited to be surrounded by volcanoes, blue water, and especially the ancient Mayan culture...should be beautiful! I'm bringing my vintage camera to play around with the scenery, will definitely post pictures.
Here's a couple more images of current work- enjoy!

tattoo tattoo tattoo

2011-01-17T16:39:00.004-05:00

Hey all! Wanted to spread the word around- got some free time in the months to come, get in touch with me if your interested. I generally do all of my consulting work via email and once I get the info I need, I'll contact you to make an appointment: Changfreely@gmail.com- Looking forward to some cool people who are looking to beat the winter blues with some cool tattoos! Come down to Frenchtown and we'll make it happen.

I've been playing around with my camera a lot lately, think I've successfully captured some of the tattoos I've been working on- Check, check em- more to come!

New shop, New year- Frenchtown at it's finest just keeps getting finer.

2011-01-10T13:20:00.008-05:00

Welcoming in 2011, saying goodbye to good ole' 10. Much progress has been made since the opening of my new shop on 10 bridge street. A year later things are truly falling into place, it feels like home and I couldn't be happier. The (not so) new space gives me just that- space. Space to envision, space to create, and most importantly space for my clients to feel comfortable and safe. Being able to walk to and from work has not only been convenient but utterly inspiring- the fresh air, sounds, and sights of Frenchtown never cease to amaze me..and continue to intuitively speak through my work. Recently I've been doing some experimenting with an old camera from the 1940's that specializes in scenery-the view definitely helps.

In all honesty, my original intentions to open as a gallery/shop became a little muddled in the chaos of getting the actual shop on its feet. However, In the new year I plan on focusing more energy on shifting the gallery aspect to a studio where I can continue to produce my own work, focusing on painting. Happy& healthy new year to all- more to come!

Frenchtown School Auction

2010-11-12T13:11:00.003-05:00

I recently painted an album cover for my good friend Joe Stuby for his latest release. . So what better but to donate it the Frenchtown school to raise money for the kids. Here is your chance to get a one of a kind painting at a great price. The painting is called "Star Stuff" in reference to Carl Sagan's famous quote " We are all made of star stuff". I had a lot of fun painting this one. And I hope that someone will enjoy it hanging in their home.

New Work

2010-07-29T14:42:00.004-04:00

Here are some photos of some recent tattoos I've been doing. Been working on a lot of larger pieces, so when those are all done, I'll be sure to throw some more images up.

Warped Tour

2010-07-29T13:47:00.005-04:00

Josh and I went to Warped Tour at Montage Mountain on July 15 to support our buddy Brian from the Bouncing Souls. Here are some pictures from the day.

Knuckle Dragger

2010-07-25T15:46:00.000-04:00

So I've been working on a new side project- a zine that I came with called Knuckle Dragger. The first issue came out about a month ago and there's going to be a new one out this month, too. We're working on a website with free downloads of the zine as a PDF. The first edition is only of 100-so grab em while you can at local spots. The zine has work by myself, Josh Kohn, Emily Tareila, Marisa Prefer, Leah Cahill, Mike Quinn, Aidan Cahill, Dutch Cooke, Aaron Buskirk, & John Moscaritolo. Send me an email if you're interested in contributing anything.

Photos from The End Is Near Opening

2010-07-07T12:01:00.007-04:00

The End Is Near

Me and Craig

Me and Leah

Me and Anna

Me, Brom & Trixie

The space

Review: The Countdown Begins, by E. Tareila

2010-07-06T15:39:00.006-04:00

The Countdown Begins is the inaugural exhibition at The End Is Near in Park Slope. The group show features Rich Cahill, Norbert Kox and Anna Sea; as the title suggests, each artist's work contains both transparent and oblique themes that one might put into the 'apocalyptic art,' 'visionary art' or just plain dark category, while simultaneously employing illustrative and craft techiniques to bring viewers to an intimate place with the work (both physically and emotionally). While each painter's aesthetic and perspective is distinctly his/her own, the work flows together as a cohesive whole, with shocking spontaneous moments and direct points of dialogue as one moves about the small one-room gallery space.

The space itself speaks well to the tone and aesthetic of the work. The End Is Near is a gallery, tattoo shop, and piercing studio, the new sister shop to the famed Hand of Glory tattoo. At the opening, the work stood alone in the front room of the space, while normally it also serves as the waiting room and storefront of The End Is Near. The walls are filled with over thirty different paintings of varying sizes, with as many mounted game animal heads as possible crammed in.

Anna Sea has the most work in the show, with some of her paintings the size of a 3x5 photograph, while others ranging to about 11x17. The paintings contain both text and the pictorial, all in a both haunting and endearing illustrative style. Her work is thematically based in craft and contains a female hand, particularly in her immaculate embroidery adornments (think a more painterly/dark Maira Kalman). Conceptually, the work presents narratives and struggles of motherhood, history, family and how these factor/relate to our current world. One of the most compelling paintings, Family Portrait, shows Sea and husband, Craig Rodriguez, with their son in a tangle of symbols, metaphors and cryptic imagery that is both luscious and unsettling. Sea's repetitive use of line and imagery in her work shows an obsessiveness and contemplativeness, alluding to her constant working through of these ideas, see This Is One. Her use of careful, small lines bring the viewer close to the work, with the viewer even sometimes wishing for a magnifying glass. Sea's markmaking collage aesthetic and text speak directly to Kox's paintings while her intricate line work speaks to Cahill's three larger paintings.

Although Rich Cahill has only three paintings in the show, they stand out in relation to Sea's and Kox's, which are connected more in subject mater and aesthetic. A tattoo artist and painter, Cahill's style is obviously more influenced by Asian art than folk art, as Kox and Sea are while still very much in the same conceptual conversation as the other artists. The images are some of the most confident looking in the show, perhaps because the work is on raw wood and there is small margin for error. The style definitely speaks to Cahill's tattoo work while not relying on tattoo imagery to carry the pieces. The most compelling painting is Dragon House, an acrylic painting on raw wood of a McMansion caught in a developmental disaster. The landscape looks alive and pulsing as information is being pumped through telephone wires to a black hole of mindlessness. The birds are the smartest in the piece-fleeing the scene as the house is enveloped in mainstream monotony.

Lastly is Norbert Kox, the self-named apocalyptic painter who describes his intentions as, " (a) cause (for) people to think, to research and investigate, rather than accept the blind traditions of men. The ultimate goal is to entice people to search the Scriptures on their own. The usual focus of my work is to target specific errors and idolatries of Humanity, revealing their fallacies through Scriptural references." Whereas Sea uses the super personal imagery and Cahill the less personal, Kox employs imagery that is super inconic-most specifically, Christ. He subverts the familiar ways in which we pedastool and simultaneously ignore religion by using hand-written text, painting over found images and cutting messages about sin, mass media, consumption and more.

Overall, the show flows with a specific trajectory: first, is Anna Sea's paintings. Her work is a representation of an inner dialogue she has with questions of self, identity and truth which directly flows into Kox's work- a different type of inner struggle and call for action, accountability and dialogue. Lastly, Cahill rounds out the exhibit with a warning of what is to come...or perhaps, what is already happening if we do not seek the truth as Sea and Kox suggest. Be sure to catch this show before the end of July. The End Is Near is located at 465A 7th Ave (bet 16th and Windsor), Tuesday - Sunday 12pm-8pm. An excellent first show from this new spot.

3 Nights, 3 Happenings

2010-07-06T13:46:00.006-04:00

Last weekend was huge for me. On Thursday, I had my opening at The End Is Near in Brooklyn. My three paintings looked great next to Norbert and Anna's work. All of the paintings are displayed in the front room of the gallery/shop while a summer bbq occurred on the back patio. There was a great crowd and a lot of good friends there. Thanks to everyone who came out! The show will continue to be up for about a month, so if you're in Park Slope, definitely check it out.

Friday night was another art event but for a very different cause. Organized by the Gasket Goons, the Charity Art Show was a huge success. The show had work by over 20 artists, showcased salon-style in the Phillipsburg garage space. The work was sold off silent-auction style and raised over 6,000 dollars for the family of the late Army Sgt. Sean M. Durkin. Accompanying the auction was a killer party with music, drinks, a hot dog truck and tons of cars-not to mention tons of people.

Saturday Top Soil had a show at The National Hotel's first annual National Palooza. It was super hot out but people still came out and danced. We've been playing a bunch of new songs that are going to be on the new album we've been recording. Check out some images from the weekend's activities!

Gasket Goons + Immortal Ink Charity Show & Auction

2010-06-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

Not only am I part of the group show at The End Is Near on July 1, but I'm also going in a charity group show hosted by the Gasket Goons and Immortal Ink on Friday, July 2. The show is in honor Army Sgt. Sean M. Durkin, to benefit his family. To read Sgt. Durkin's full story and to RSVP to the opening on facebook, click here

The art show/auction will be held on July 2nd 2010 at Star 77 Kustoms, 224 Stockton St. Phillipsburg, NJ. There will be drinks available and "DJ Kate Keen" of Sugar Shack Vinyl will be DJing!

Artists include: Josh Kohn, Jamie Schwartz, Brian Woolverton, John Moscaritolo, Dutch Cooke, Brian Keinlen, Ox, Vinny Scully, Smivee Valencia, Krooked Ken, Erik Pinchek, Alex Oscavich, Justin Weiss, Jerry Chiccarine, Michael DePrizio, Nicole Esposito, Jennifer Skidmore, Kimmie Doriety , James M Patrick, Ian Kenworthy, Kieth Ruthe, Harry Ferrante, Mellissa Graves, George Varkoly, Andrew Bannon and more

Really hope to see you all there for a great cause

End is Near Group Show

2010-06-24T14:40:00.001-04:00

I have a show coming up at The End Is Near in Brooklyn on July 1. The sister shop of Hand of Glory Tattoo, this new space is having their first gallery show. The exhibition is with Norbert Kox and Anna Sea. I've been working with Hand of Glory for a while now (I'm there monthly tattooing as a Guest Artist) and am excited to show some of my other work. My paintings have really been taking off lately. I'm working on wood with acrylics and gauche, really honing in on a precise visual and conceptual aesthetic. It would be great to see as many people as possible for the opening. 7-11:30 PM on Thursday July 1 at 465a 7th ave, park slope

Here's a small preview of some of my new work. Proper images and documentation of the show to follow!

Overdue Update

2010-06-18T08:00:00.001-04:00

So the new place has been open for about six months now and everything is going great. I've been doing a ton of tattooing as well as painting and illustration. I recently designed the album cover for the band Just Surrender. My band Top Soil has been playing a bunch, too. We started recording our second album on Monday at Trax East and I'm really excited about the project. Check out a video of us playing live here. Another new development is the opening of my brothers Jim and Dave's new computer repair and internet cafe, River Net. They set up shop in the same building as my studio, so check it out! We're in the brick building next to the Bridge Cafe in Frenchtown.

The battle has been won!

2009-12-18T16:27:00.003-05:00

When I set out to open my gallery/studio I had no idea I would be tied up in legal red tape for 6 months. I approached Frenchtown boro with my plan for an Art Studio with Tattooing. They immediately resisted the idea and directed me to get a variance. Typically municipality’s use the variance as a way to drain the business owner of all money and intimidate them so they go away. This has happened many times to tattoo studio owners. I was not a big fan of this idea. But after a while of trying every way to get around it was the only option. So it cost me a bundle, but it got me here. I have learned a lot from this experience. Not only about Zoning laws and small town bureaucracy but how much the people of my community matter. If it wasn’t for the positive force that showed their support for me at the meeting, I may have been voted down. So now I can move forward.

Tattooing has been my passion for 17 years now. Watching my profession grow from a fringe art form and then explode to a widely accepted televised reality. It has exceeded all my expectations. Having opened Immortal Ink in the fall of 99 the future was wide open. I felt scarred and didn’t know if Tattooing would work here in Hunterdon County. After a year and thousands of Tattoos burned on the flesh of locals and tourists all my fears had been gone. The past ten years I have grown as an artist and a family man. Ive watched my Best friend Josh Kohn build a strong clientele and has helped put Immortal ink on the map. This is why I have to pass the torch to my fellow tattooists at Immortal and move on.

Rich Cahill Studio is a multi media studio specializing in Tattooing, Outsider Art, and Illustration. I will feature my own pen and ink drawings, acrylic painting, as well as art works by Norbert Kox, Anna Sea, Frank Bruno, Crag Rodriguez and many more. I look forward to the quarterly art shows and meeting artists from all over.

Stop in and visit if your in the Frenchtown area.

Coming Soon...Rich Cahill Studio

2009-10-26T22:19:00.007-04:00

Skindustry Expo

2009-04-06T21:03:00.006-04:00

Well, it was that time of the year again when I get my ass out of the shop and try to act like a big shot tattooer. The Skindustry Expo. Just 45 minutes from Immortal ink was a good time. I saw old friends and made some new ones as well. First I worked on my guitar tech Kyle. I'm working on a Hanya back piece we started in September. We have made some serious ground latley and should be finishing up soon. Then I tattooed Blood Lust in Italian on a blond vampire girl. I forgot to take a photo of that, oops. followed by a fix up on Tony. I made my money for the show and that how it goes.

2009-03-12T21:41:00.005-04:00

TOP SOIL!
The great new project that I will be spending time on these days.
Mike Quinn, the lyrical master, from Violent Society fame, shreds the acoustic guitar while rambles of the rise and fall of humanity.
My block neighbor, Jeff Tareila completes the back line with the most purdy uprite bass on 3rd st.
The first day went well. Working on five songs that I was still learning was quite hard but seemed to track good. My head was pounding with each bass drum kick as my cold had not left my body.
Day two was much better! We seemed to kick it right away. Recording 4 more songs. The day just passed without any serious bumps. Top Soil is a challenge for me because, Jeff and Mike took my cymbals away and just left me the kick snare and brushes. But I dig it!
I look forward to finishing tracking next week and moving on to vocals. I will have a stronger backing vocal role in this group.
Working at the shop has been difficult with this nasty head cold. Just got to push through it.